Redesign CoHUpdater.exe loader: make Forums noticable? Add ParagonWiki? Move to QT/KHTML?
By
Fleeting Whisper,
Posted on: 2010-04-05 24:31 in Suggestions and Ideas
About the only potential issue I could see in this is the Paragonwiki link, with the whole "third party, can't be held responsible, blah blah blah" legalese that would likely have to be put with it. Not sure how PS/NC would feel about it.
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Well, I sort of wanted to delve into that, but figured it'd be quite boring.|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
About the only potential issue I could see in this is the Paragonwiki link, with the whole "third party, can't be held responsible, blah blah blah" legalese that would likely have to be put with it. Not sure how PS/NC would feel about it.
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Back when Tabula Rasa was alive, the Community Manager had no problems adding Third Party links to the TR loader. Zerias.blogspot.com was linked a few times when I did the TR guides.
My suspicion is that content that goes onto the Loader has to be cleared by somebody in legal / community management. Theoretically, I think the same type of restrictions apply to the loading screen tips... where Paragon Wiki has been mentioned.
I "think" the developers could get around potential problems, again, with a UI upgrade on the Loader itself. To use Steam as example again, when I mouse over Featured Games I get a nice little pop-up for each game telling me a bit about the game, when it was released, and it's genre.
I'm pretty sure a similar pop-up / pop-under window placement could be used to tell people that Account takes them to Plaync.com, Boards takes them to the forums, and Paragon Wiki takes them to a 3rd party website.
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Yes. Every issue of the City Scoop had to be cleared before we got put out. Although technically it was all done on their forums and resources, none of us were paid employees.
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Originally Posted by je_saist
My suspicion is that content that goes onto the Loader has to be cleared by somebody in legal / community management
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"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
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This is why I never click on a link on the CoHlauncher.
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Originally Posted by je_saist
In addition, moving away from the IE rendering engine would stop the launcher from trying to open up IE everytime a person clicks on a link.
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On the other hand, one of the zone loading tips says "www.Paragonwiki.com has great background info on the NPCs and enemy groups in the game." I'm not sure where NCSoft would stand on adding a link in the updater.
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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
About the only potential issue I could see in this is the Paragonwiki link, with the whole "third party, can't be held responsible, blah blah blah" legalese that would likely have to be put with it. Not sure how PS/NC would feel about it.
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http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
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/signed. Much like being able to mail influence/loot to yourself, this should have been done a long time ago.
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Originally Posted by je_saist
On the current CoHUpdater.exe loading screen there is a line of links at the top of the loader with:
Each of these is actually a link... but depending on a player's monitor size and monitor resolution, as well as which OS they are running, it might not always be perfectly clear that they are links... or that they aren't just one line of text. Currently, I'm under the impression that the CoHUpdater uses the IE rendering engine to display it's web-page updates, mostly as under Cedega, the loader performs pretty much the same as the old Steam loader. Which, well, brings me to my suggestion. Currently Valve software is implementing a new version of their loader interface built with the QT based KHTML fork, Webkit. Webkit allows Valve to pull off several nifty (native-code) cross-platform tricks with the Steam UI, without having to depend on external plugins. It'd be nice if the CoHUpdater.exe loader could be redesigned in a similar fashion, with a similar main window changing notification to clear up the amount of picture and paragraph blocks in the loader, and better blocking of the Links, as well as roll-over indications that Links ARE Links. In addition, moving away from the IE rendering engine would stop the launcher from trying to open up IE everytime a person clicks on a link. |
On the current CoHUpdater.exe loading screen there is a line of links at the top of the loader with:
Currently, I'm under the impression that the CoHUpdater uses the IE rendering engine to display it's web-page updates, mostly as under Cedega, the loader performs pretty much the same as the old Steam loader.
Which, well, brings me to my suggestion. Currently Valve software is implementing a new version of their loader interface built with the QT based KHTML fork, Webkit. Webkit allows Valve to pull off several nifty (native-code) cross-platform tricks with the Steam UI, without having to depend on external plugins.
It'd be nice if the CoHUpdater.exe loader could be redesigned in a similar fashion, with a similar main window changing notification to clear up the amount of picture and paragraph blocks in the loader, and better blocking of the Links, as well as roll-over indications that Links ARE Links. In addition, moving away from the IE rendering engine would stop the launcher from trying to open up IE everytime a person clicks on a link.
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Now, some of this may be a moot point already. For all I know, a UI rework using QT / KHMTL / WebKit is already in the list of Ghost Falcon's and Television's feature enhancements for Going Rogue.
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I'd also like to propose an additional link for the loader screen. ParagonWiki is a valuable source of information for players of the CoH game(s). However, not all players know about the site.
I'd like to see ParagonWiki linked to right from the CoHUpdater.exe loader. This would make it easier for players to locate, and for new players to discover.
It would also be nice, if there was a link to all of the tips that currently are implemented in the loading system. Overkill maybe, but nice.